1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to network access schemes and, more particularly, to an interface for targeted network video download.
2. Description of the Related Art
The early beginnings of the network commonly referred to as “the Internet” involved scientists, researchers, and technology experts exchanging information over a secure computer network. Now, the Internet is fast becoming popular with the general populace not just for information exchange, but also for entertainment and recreation. Users can access thousands of files stored in computers that comprise Internet sites that contain text, graphics, video, and audio content by using graphical user interface (GUI) computer browser programs that navigate the collection of such sites commonly called the “world wide web”.
For the typical home user, access to the Internet is gained by connecting their computer to an Internet service provider (ISP) through a telephone line, although other connection services are gaining popularity. In most cases where a home user has an ISP, the user pays a fee to the ISP in exchange for access to the Internet through the ISP. The connection from the user computer to the ISP can be virtually any type of network access, such as typical analog telephone line access through a local exchange carrier or telephone company. Other connection services include cable modem services and Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) services.
For typical telephone connections, a modem is connected between the user computer and the telephone line, to provide an interface between the digital data used by the computer and the analog signal transmitted over the telephone line. The user uses a dial-up connection utility program to connect the user computer to the ISP system via the modem. At the ISP, a modem converts the transmitted analog signal back to computer data. An ISP will usually have several telephone numbers available in a user's local calling area for a dial-up connection. Such a connection system can provide data exchange rates of 36K bytes per second upload (computer user to ISP) and up to 56K bytes per second download (ISP to computer user). The connection from the ISP to the Internet “back bone” is typically over relatively expensive, high-speed digital lines such as fiber optic cable over T1 or T3 connections that can provide data exchange rates of 1 M bytes per second or greater.
Recently, Internet service companies have begun to provide Internet content to users based on the broadcast television model of content delivery. That is, Internet content is delivered to users for no charge, in exchange for the content being delivered with banner display advertising materials, which are observed by the users. The companies who provide the advertising materials pay fees to the Internet content providers, the ISPs, for the advertising exposure in the hope that it will keep their products and services uppermost in user's minds and will influence purchasing decisions. The fees paid by advertisers are typically a function of click-through rate, which is the rate of ad viewers (users) who visit the advertiser's web site from the banner ad.
The Internet advertising typically consists of images that take up a portion of a user's browser window on the computer display screen, so-called “banner” advertising. The banner advertising leaves most of the browser window free for viewing, and typically places the banner across a top area of the window. A typical Internet access-for-advertising arrangement uses a dial-up connection that continuously downloads a banner ad from the ISP while the user is connected. That is, as soon as the user's browser or viewer program is ready for a new banner ad, a new banner ad is downloaded from an ad server. The download may or may not interfere with the user's Internet activity.
Because the banner advertising occupies a relatively small area of the user's display window, the advertising does not preempt viewing of Internet content. Thus, banner advertising does not intrude on the user's Internet experience, but because it is static, it unfortunately can rather easily be ignored by the user. This is unlike the model of broadcast television, which generally ensures that no other display interruption will occur during the viewing of advertising content. Moreover, banner advertising does nothing to catch the attention of the user, and this reduces the likelihood that a user will take the time to view the banner advertising, and reduces its effectiveness.
Video images, comprising data files that provide full-motion video displays, can be viewed over the Internet. Video files are desirable for providing a moving image display with audio, which will more likely attract and hold a viewer's interest. Video files, however, are relatively large and can take an inordinate amount of time to download. Banner ads may require 5K to 25K bytes of data, but a video file of 30 seconds duration may require 1.3 M bytes of data, even with data compression techniques. As noted above, banner ads are sufficiently small that they may be downloaded without notice by a user while the user is viewing Internet content. In contrast, video files are so large that a user's Internet viewing almost certainly would be interrupted while the large file was being downloaded. Hence, video files are not conducive to the access-for-advertising, broadcast television model of providing Internet access.
Compounding the greater amount of time necessary to download video files is the problem of variety and staleness. Viewers can quickly become familiar with Internet video advertising images, just as with television commercials in the broadcast context. Experience is showing that the Internet user has a short attention span. Therefore, it is important to provide the Internet user with a variety of advertising that is constantly refreshed. If video advertising is to be useful for the Internet, then it is important to provide a variety of video files, notwithstanding the fact that such files take longer to download. With these conflicting ideals, it can be seen that video advertising is not currently practical in the access-for-advertising model of Internet access, because they take a greater amount of time to download than banner advertising, and they must be refreshed frequently to avoid becoming stale.
In addition, most Internet advertising is indiscriminately directed. That is, banner ads are sent to users without regard to the demographic profile of individual users. Typically, access providers can charge higher rates if they can ensure a target viewing audience with a particular demographic profile.
Alternatively, advertising may be directed to a user based on that user's network browsing habits. For example, some advertisers may monitor the banner ads to which a user responds with a “click-through”. These user click-throughs may be collected into a database that can be used to direct future banner ads. Unfortunately, directing advertising in this manner takes time to accumulate, is not very precise, and only reflects past user browser history. Thus, a user's present demographic profile is not necessarily reflected in the database and ineffective or inappropriate advertising may still be directed to the user.
From the discussion above, it should be apparent that there is a need for an Internet access-for-advertising technique that provides Internet content to targeted users along with video advertising that will more likely hold the interest and attention of Internet users and also ensures a fresh supply of video files, without interrupting the Internet experience of the user. The present invention fulfills this need.